


Hello, Goodbye

by sksdwrld



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-26 01:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7554685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Greg runs into Audrey years after their breakup. Then she drops a bomb he never expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello from the other side (other side)  
> I must have called a thousand times (thousand times)  
> To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done  
> But when I call you never seem to be home  
> Hello from the outside (outside)  
> At least I can say that I've tried (I've tried)  
> To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart  
> But it don't matter. It clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore

"Audrey?"

She looked up at the first sound of her name and only later processed the hopeful tone. "Oh my God." It came out more deadpan than she'd intended and even though her eyes were quickly filling with tears, she forced herself to smile. "Hey Swee-" Of course she choked on her own spit. "Hey Sweetie! Hey Greg. Hi."

Her hug was awkward where his was warm, and although Audrey had missed those arms, she was almost relieved when he pulled away. "Ohmigosh, hi... What--? What are you doing here?"

"At Comic-Con?" Greg chuckled but he looked vaguely concerned. Audrey wiped her eyes and refreshed her smile.

"Yeah. Well, no...I mean, in Arizona." The truth was, she'd carefully avoided Vegas since she'd left, and with good reason. Actually, it was a terrible reason and she was a terrible person, but that would just have to wait.

"Yeah, I know. It's Mom..."

"Oh no..."

"Yeah...she had a stroke last year and she hasn't been doing as well as I'd hoped, so..." Greg sighed. "So I've been looking into a transfer. Just had an interview, actually."

"Oh. Well. That's...I'm..." Was it only awkward because she was making it that way?

"Thanks," he gave her a thin smile and after a beat, leaned over and looked pointedly at the comic she was holding. "Alien Zombies on Rollerskates?" He arched a brow as he regarded her with a wider smile.

"Yeah," A nervous laugh bubbled out of her. "My tastes have changed a bit since we last...you know." It was really a necessary evil. And it wasn't the she liked it so much as....fuck, speak of the devil. "Well, Sweetie, it was really great bumping into you. I really ought to let you go, but if you're in town for a bit, maybe we can do dinn--"

"Mommy!" A string bean of a boy topped with strawberry blond hair barreled between them so quickly that Greg bent and reached for him to keep him from toppling into Audrey's legs but it was too late.

Audrey had already braced herself for impact and slung her arms around Garrett, raffling his hair affectionately. "Hey, baby!"

"Mommy?" Greg's confused murmur was lost amidst excited chatter.

"Guess what? Guess what Aunt Jenny found? Shopkins! Season one! And we bought them all!"

A pretty, plump woman with blonde hair followed behind a bit more mellowly and held up a generic black plastic bag, veritably overflowing with tiny shrink wrapped baskets. "Sorry, don't ask. I was overtaken with infectious enthusiasm and I blacked out with cash in hand. When I came to, we were the proud owners of these thirty some-odd blind bags. Basksets. Whatever. Early birthday present. Except I already got him a present. Shoot. Oh, hey, who's this?"

"Mom! Mommy! Can we open them now? I want to open them now!" Garrett got louder as he pulled on Audrey's arm and she shot Greg an apologetic look as she reached for the bag, pulling out four of the baskets and all but shoving them at Garrett. Anything to keep him quiet in this moment before her heart exploded out of her chest.

"Ummm..." Her tone was rife with exasperation and she closed her eyes for a moment. "Jenny, this is Greg, Greg this is Jenny, my--"

"Good God, Greg? As in The Greg?" Jenny interrupted, her expression something akin to amused horror.

"Ye-ess, thank you Jen..." Audrey said tightly and then, "Good grief, Garrett, Sweetie, don't pester Mommy's friend..."

Greg was crouching down to eye level and helping to peel shrink wrap from the baskets while Garrett animatedly chattered away about God knows what. The look on Greg's face was one of consternation, although she could tell he was trying to hide it.

"It's fine," he said dismissively and handed over one of the baskets. Audrey bit her lip and stared helplessly as Greg's eyes skittered back and forth over her son. Their son. Putting it all together wouldn't be a stretch for him. Not with his analytical brain. Not with the frank resemblance. Garrett's eyes were Greg's and though he had Audrey's full lips, he had Greg's wide, squared off teeth and pointy chin.

"Look, mom, look! It's bread head!"

"Oh yeah, that's great, I see..." But Audrey didn't see. She was staring back at Greg, his eyes dark and accusatory. Her throat tightened. "Jenny, would you take him, please? Just...anywhere? Get him something to eat? Here, I..." Audrey's hand shook as she dug a wad of bills from her purse and she thrust it at her friend.

"Oh God. Okay, alright. Come on, little man. Let's go see if we can find some grub, huh?" And she dragged Garrett away at a clipped pace, bending to pick up the toys that tumbled from his hands before he could put up a protest.

Greg stood and brushed his palms together, then clenched his jaw. "We should go...somewhere."

"Oh God, oh fuck." It was too late. Tears were already sliding down her cheeks. Greg took her by the arm and escorted her through the crowd as one apology after another spilled from her lips. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Sweetie, I..."

In a far corner of the convention, there was a discarded grey room divider and they took sanctuary behind it. Audrey wept uncontrollably and though she didn't deserve the kindness, Greg held her. Stiffly, but comforting nevertheless. And when she pulled herself together enough, he offered her a handkerchief from his pocket. He was carrying a hanky. Any other time it would have been adorable. It seemed practical now though, and she dabbed her eyes, carefully avoiding looking at him. She fixed her eyes on the wet stain on his chest instead. He stood patiently. Impassive.

"I must have called a thousand times..." she whispered. "After I found out that I...that I was pregnant. I can't count the number of times I hung up. I don't know what I would have done if you'd answered. The few times I stuck it out to voicemail, I...that's no way to find out."

"I called." Greg defended himself coldly. His arms were crossed over his chest. Audrey couldn't remember seeing him so angry before.

"I know, Sweetie, and I..." she closed her eyes, remembering seeing his name on the screen. The panic she'd felt. Paralyzed, unable to answer. "I couldn't do that to you. Couldn't force you to face that reality. You didn't want it. You weren't ready. It's why we broke up..."

"No!" Greg argued. "We broke up because you said you saw us going the way of Sara and Gil!"

"Because you said..." Audrey sniffled. "You said that it wasn't a good time. You were only just getting hang of things at work. You couldn't be there for a family and I couldn't...Couldn't force you to choose, Greg, I'm sorry! I wanted to tell you, I tried to tell you, but the more time went on, the harder it was!"

"You didn't give me a choice at all, Audrey! You just...thought you knew what was best for me?! That's my...that's my son! For fuck's sake..." Greg rifled his hand through his hair and finally his look softened. The rage gave way to something softer and tears filled his eyes. "So, you're with her? That girl, and just...raising him like that?"

"No...I mean, we're not together. Jenny...Jenny's my friend. A good friend. She's been there for most of it. Comes on the road with us, stays with him while I'm working. She's great with him, he adores her..."

Greg was oddly silent and pressed his fingers into his eyes.

"He's so smart, Sweetie, and just the sweetest, nicest boy ever. So genuine and kind...he, um, loves princesses and robots, and those silly little collectible toys. The RV is full of them. And, um..." Audrey was scrambling to fill him in with every detail when he shook his head.

"Stop..." Greg whispered painfully. "It's too much. I..."

"I'm sorry..." Audrey said, wanting to hold him but afraid he'd reject her. "I'm sorry."

Again, he shook his head and a long silence grew between them. Audrey shifted from foot to foot and finally Greg lifted his head. "Where do we go from here?"

"I dunno, Greg. Whatever you want. Just tell me. I'm sorry."


	2. Chapter 2

"Fuck, Jenny, why is he doing this to me?" Audrey whispered as she stared down at the paperwork she'd been served weeks before.

"Because unlike the majority of men on the planet, he's actually a good fucking dude who wants to be part of his kid's life? You can't run from your past forever, honey."

Tears squeezed down Audrey's cheeks and she brushed them away. "I know, I know. I just..." swallowing past the right ring of her throat, she shook her head. "I thought..."

"You thought you'd get away with it and Greg would never know the difference and Rhett would grow up the well-adjusted child of a single mom and that would be that."

"...Yeah, I guess."

"You ain't that lucky." Jenny threw a fake punch to Audrey's should we. "Besides, what are you worried about? You've been talking about telling him for years. How you know he'd have been a great Dad. How you know how shitty and unfair you were to him. Like, this is your opportunity here. For Rhett to have two amazing parents. Change is scary but this is gonna be good for him, baby."

Audrey hated when Jenny was right. More angry, hot tears spilled over her lashes. "Yeah, and what if he's so good that Garrett wants to stay with Greg? All the time? What then?"

"Aww honey," Jenny stood up and went to Audrey, embracing her tightly and kissing her temple. "That ain't never gonna happen. Kid's a momma's boy through and through."

*****

"Goddamn it, Sara..." Greg swore into the phone as he paced circles through his kitchen, into the hallway, and back again. "What the hell am I doing here?"

"You're seeing your son for the first time in the face of your years-old amicable breakup gone wrong..."

"Thanks for the recap. I'm so glad you were listening...." Scowling, he turned abruptly and shoveled his hair back.

"Look Greg, it's an unfortunate situation all around, but you're doing the best thing for everyone. You'd regret never getting to know your son, and one day that little boy would turn into a man and wonder who his father was and why he never came around. Is it going to be awkward? Yes. Is it going to be strange? Yes. But you'll get through it. Kids are understanding. They're resilient. And nobody's expecting an instantaneous bond here, Greg. This is just the beginning. Listen. Talk. Get to know him. Try to understand what it is about him that makes you already love him."

"Do I though, do I love him?"

"Don't you?"

"Yeah."

"And that's why you're already a great father, Greg. You got this."


	3. Chapter 3

"Rhett! Come on pal, your...your father's here!" Audrey called into the small apartment.

It wasn't furnished in what Greg still thought of as typical Audrey fashion. Gone were the over the top kitchen appliances, the cherries, and the ravens that she'd moved into his modest bachelor pad. Gone were the artistic clutters of knick knacks here, there, and everywhere. The place, what he could see of it, was quite subdued and bland, save for some childish art work magneted to the fridge. Greg supposed she'd only just moved in, but still...

"Rhett?" Greg questioned the moniker.

Audrey wrapped her arms around herself and stared somewhere just behind Greg. "You know how my family is. They insist on giving everyone a nickname, as you might recall my mother's asinine fondness for calling you 'G'. I didn't want them calling him 'Gary'. It's a grimy old guy name. So I said they could call him Rhett. You know, Garret, Rhett..."

"Yeah, I got it. It's... cool. Definitely better than Gary." Greg was trying. God, he was trying. But Audrey was the one making things so hard. Her stance was closed off and her jaw set. She still hadn't looked him in the eye. "It's just a trip to the movies, Aud. Three, three and a half hours, max, depending on traffic."

"Yeah. I know..." Tears filled her eyes and she closed them momentarily. "It's just that I've only ever left him with Jenny or my mom, and I..." Biting her lip, she took a deep breath and compoaed herself, finally casting Greg a glance. It was incredibly brief and then she went through the small living room to what Greg assumed was Garrett's bedroom. " _Garrett_ , did you hear me? I said...I said Daddy's here. Pick up your dolls and put them in the bin. You want to go to the movies, don't you?"

Daddy. At 49, Greg had resigned himself to the idea that he was never going to be that. And yet, here he was. The father of an energetic five year old. Five years he'd missed. Five years he'd taken for granted. Five years that didn't seem long at all but we're literally a lifetime for his son. And he'd missed everything, from middle of the night wake ups to diaper changes to potty training and all the milestones in between...

Garrett barreled out of the bedroom in what Greg was quickly beginning to realize was typical fashion and made a beeline for him. He had what looked like some new aged Barbie doll with exaggerated features clutched in one hand, and Audrey was coming toward them.

"Hey. I asked you to put your dolls away--"

"But I want to take this one with me! _Pleeeeaaasssseeee_!" Garrett spun around halfway to Greg and pleaded with his mother.

Audrey looked at Greg. "It's not up to me. I won't be there. You have to ask your father."

"Dad! Daaaad! Can I? Can I take Rockelle?" Garrett waved the doll at Greg as he ran closer. "I promise I'll hold onto her right and I won't lose her and if I do I won't cry 'cause it'll be just my own fault for not taking care of her but I will take care of her because she's my baby and I'd never let anything happen to her, please!"

This was it. His first decision as a parent. Well, the first one his kid was going to judge him for, anyway."Uh..." Greg stared back at Audrey, trying to glean the right answer from her expression but she was looking at him almost as expectantly as Garrett was. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess that's cool..."

"Yes!" Gateway's enthusiasm burst from him and Audrey made an undiscernible face, shook her head once, shrugged, then plastered a smile on her face.

"Okay. Be good for Greg. I mean. Dad."

"I will! Bye, Mom. Love you!" And then Garrett took a firm hold of Greg's shirt and tugged him toward the door, immediately starting up an enthusiastic dialogue about his doll, when he'd gotten her, who had given it to him, and the ways he liked to play with her. "...and then sometimes she's an astronaut and she rides a dinosaur to the moon. Dinosaurs can't really go to the moon but it's okay to pretend that way. Did you know the moon is a rock and there isn't any cheese there at all, and..."

By the time they made it to the car, Greg was already lost. He opened up the back seat and Garrett climbed up into the booster he'd installed and buckled himself in. "Practically self sufficient, aren't you?" Greg murmured with an odd sense of relief mingled with a tinge of disappointment as he shut the door.

"So, Garrett, tell me about school..." Greg started the engine and mentally face palmed himself. Although it seemed like a natural conversation starter, the kid had never been to school a day in his life. "I mean. Did your mom talk to you about kinder--"

"I get to go to kindergarten after my birthday!" Garrett bounced happily in the back seat as Greg carefully pulled out into traffic, suddenly more aware of every car that was slightly too close or going just a little too fast. God, was this parenting? His anxiety had gone through the roof since running into Audrey at Comic-Con. "It's going to be in a real school with lots of other kids and a real teacher not just Jenny and I'm going to have a lunch box with my lunch in it and mom said I could pick whatever one I wanted and I got new shoes with light a in the bottom, they make me run really extremely fast so when I'm out on the playground--"

Keeping up with the speed of Garrett's excitement felt a little like talking with a new intern after working an 18 hour shift: a little hard to follow the segues but with an innocence of youth and inexperience that Greg almost missed. Luckily, Garrett carried the conversation for most of the ride and Greg could just listen and absorb.

When they got to the mall, the parking lot was busy and it made Greg's gut clench a little. He was responsible for another life right now, and it was different than being responsible for lives when he was in the lab. Greg twisted around to look at his son in the back seat. "Listen, Garrett. I know you don't know me that well but the parking lot is really crowded so--"

"Mom says I always have to hold an adults hand in the parking lot so I don't get runned over because if that happened she'd be so sad and she'd cry forever. My people's sister got hit by a car and she died and they had to put her in the cold ground with the worms and she never got any hugs anymore and I don't want that to happen to me so I'm going to hold your hand." Garrett unbuckled himself from the car seat but appeared to be waiting for Greg to open the door.

"Um." Greg blinked. Was that at all appropriate for a five year old? He wasn't sure. And Audrey's judgement had proved more questionable than he cared for just in her one major oversight. The one in which she failed to tell him about Garrett at all. In five years...It was hard to say. The kid seemed happy and adjusted, but only time would tell. "Okay. Well. Good." He slid from the car and opened the back door, reaching his hand out to Garrett.

Garrett's grip was sure and firm and he hopped happily down from the car, then skipped all the way to the theatre entrance, flying his doll beside him. His little fingers were warm and delicate and Greg just marvelled at the sensation. He'd held children's hands before, but it never felt like this. "Hey. Dad?"

Greg had to give it to him. Garrett didn't have any sense of awkwardness around the world at all. Maybe because for all that she'd done wrong, Audrey had done one thing right in not giving the kid a complex about him. "Yeah, Garrett?"

"Mom always gets the box with the popcorn and the fruit snacks."

"Okay, we can see if they have it."

"Can we get candy instead?"

A chuckle escaped him. "Just this one time, buddy, we're gonna get whatever you want."

And they did.


End file.
